Comments on: Choice listings, anonymous email, but definitely not PayPal only on eBay.com

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:59:53 +0000

Any chance of a link/details of when they come into effect?

By: Fake_Pierre

Fake_Pierre — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:23:58 +0000

http://valleywag.com/5017352/ebay-demolishes-level-playing-field-for-buycom

Unbelievable video of Pierre saying “big off-eBay sellers would be a disaster on eBay”

By: Sue Bailey

Sue Bailey — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:05:30 +0000

Jimbo: yes.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:32:38 +0000

Sue, have these polices actually been announced for .com?

By: northumbrian

northumbrian — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:29:07 +0000

I dont care
the best advice I ever received was ,
if there is something you can do nothing about, the best thing to do,
is do nothing

By: Sue Bailey

Sue Bailey — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:22:19 +0000

UK_trader’s point is interesting, but we need to remember that as announced this week, the new polices apply to eBay.com only: I’m sure the UK lawyers will be all over it before it’s introduced on .co.uk.

By: Andy Geldman

Andy Geldman — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:23:44 +0000

I think “A whitelist approach to HTML” aka Active Content Policy sounds like a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Moving listings to a different domain AND whitelisting widgets – why do both?

The impact will be on cross-selling galleries and other listing enhancements. The free galleries will probably shut up shop rather than pay the approval fees.

By: UK_trader

UK_trader — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:21:42 +0000

So soon we will be prohibited from supplying a contact email address in eBay listings. Well I list on eBay.co.uk as a business seller and to comply with EU Distance Selling Requirements we must include contact details including (you guessed it) an email address. If we fail to comply with the law will they pay any fine we incur for ignoring the law (on eBay’s say so). Or will their European executives face jail time for ignoring EU law (like M$ did at their peril)?

By: whirly

whirly — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:09:36 +0000

Wait until Friday, the day JD will announce that if your companies big enough you can buy a slice of eBay at a knock down price, buy.com was just the beginning.

By: Cliff Aliperti

Cliff Aliperti — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:05:39 +0000

The e-mail change doesn’t surprise me, in fact I’m surprised they didn’t go further and get there quicker. What I expected was that we’d never get to see the email address and that all communication would have to come through “My Messages”. Maybe next year, I mean by then they won’t have much else left to take from us anyway.

On the whole though, I’m okay with all this. My biggest complaint right now is that I’m sick of revising my listings. I’d almost rather give up having a choice on some policies and just have them default them to whatever the hell they want so I can save some time revising. Well, not really, but it’d be nice to stop working on old listings and have more time for working on new ones.

By: M.C. Nygard

M.C. Nygard — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:34:13 +0000

What?!?! Sellers will no longer be able to see a buyer’s e-mail until the transaction is complete? This is yet another disguised ploy to weaken seller’s communications and lower the Detailed Seller Ratings. Afterall, lower overall communications means lower Detailed Seller Ratings, which in turn benefits eBay in that it will reduce the amount of discounts it doles out.

Yes, eBay was a fun place. Now it’s a hell for sellers. eBay will get their just desserts as the stock has weakened its hold from the $30 range and has been steady in the $28 range. Meanwhile, Amazon was steady in the $80 range and has increased its position to the 82 range.

Good riddens eBay! Sellers are moving to Amazon, Etsy and RubyLane.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:05:05 +0000

How does revising hundreds of listings to show a refund policy of “none” a good idea?

How about if refund policy isn’t checked then you don’t have one.

Having to offer one even if it’s none is right up there with stupid eBay ideas.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:28:14 +0000

On the email address point – although I don’t doubt that it may well become policy, it isn’t policy yet (as far as I’m aware).

In the UK are we not obliged to supply a valid email address to comply with distance selling regulations?

By: SD-STRIKEBREAKER

SD-STRIKEBREAKER — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:14:19 +0000

I’m sure some bellends will come along and find something to cry about, I wish they’d all do one and join all the other unwanted and bad sellers on ebad.

By: EReliable

EReliable — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:33:44 +0000

“In an attempt to limit possible damage from bad code, descriptions will now be served from a seperate domain so that scraping of sign-in information within the eBay site should no longer be possible. ”

I did not understand that. I scap about 3000 – 5000 listing everyday for analysis. I dont use ebay API. Do you think my program will be affected ?

By: Yael

Yael — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:10:25 +0000

Annoyed about the no email policy, but I could see it coming. If I was eBay I would’ve done it years ago, eBid don’t allow email addresses on listings.

Are we still allowed to show a phone number?

By: EAnderseen

EAnderseen — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:44:05 +0000

These all seem like very sensible changes to me.

By: Mark Classic

Mark Classic — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:26:22 +0000

eBay are forcing sellers to include information material to the transaction, some of which has previously been optional for inclusion within a listing. For example, on .com sellers must specify at least one domestic shipping service with pricing, as well as handling time, which will be used to display an estimated arrival time to buyers. A returns policy and who pays for the return of the item will also have to be specified, though on .com at least â€œno returns acceptedâ€ remains an acceptable policy (the same does not apply in most of Europe).

What if the seller is not located in the US, how can they supply a domestic shipping service with time?